Invisible Things, Visible Things
by RipYaNewOne
Summary: So, what's a boy to do when he meets a ghost? Let alone, falls in love with one?
1. The Voice of Awkwardness

_So, what's a boy supposed to do when he meets a ghost? Let alone, falls in love with one?_

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**_Invisible Things, Visible Things_**

**_Chapter 1: The Voice of Awkwardness_**

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_**Birds chirped, sunlight gleamed, and thumbs were twiddled by a confused boy.

Our favorite brown-haired, auburn-eyed, hat-wearing, goggle-strapping protagonist was twiddling his thumbs. Furiously. He kept thinking.

"_Haha, can't be real, right? I mean…ghosts shouldn't be able to touch objects or people, right? RIGHT?"_

Unable to hold back the uneasiness contained with him, he stood up and shouted the first thing that came to the top of his head.

"AW, WHAT THE HELL!"

A mix of awkwardness emanated from the boy and spread through the rest of the park. Only when all the visitors' gazes were fixed upon him did he notice nearly everyone present was a couple. The strangers stared at him. The males' heads directed themselves towards his direction, all the while keeping their hands in their pockets, while the females also turned their heads towards him, keeping their arms interlocked with their beloveds'.

The boy, who was now sweating profusely, scanned the abundant lovebirds and stood still at the center of attention. His mind was so focused now on their gazes that he hadn't realized he had been standing up and keeping both arms and hands, curled into fists, in the air.

"_Oh shit, shit, shit. Uhh…maybe I should make a run for it before they remember my face. WAIT, NO. THEY ALREADY KNOW I'M THE ONLY SINGLE PERSON HERE. Wait, wait! NO, I SEE ANOTHER SINGLE PERSON! YES, I'M SAVED. Now all I have to do is walk past him and leave this place."_

As the boy slowly dropped his raised fists and tucked them inside his pockets, he began to tiptoe awkwardly and slowly toward the exit. His head and body was pointed in the direction of his escape, but his eyes were still rolling about at the stares he still had on him. The looks on their faces didn't give off any annoyed or angered tones, but simply a feeling of confusion.

Now, as the boy tiptoed past the single male he eyed previously, his eyes failed to actually recognize exactly who he was. And just then, the seemingly-single male propped a hand on the escaping boy's shoulder, catching his attention and stopping his needless tiptoeing.

The goggle-boy spoke with a hint of surprise, "Kouji?"

And Kouji responded by keeping his stare down and looking at the boy shamefully.

With his hand still on the escapee's shoulder and eyes closed now, he sighed and finally asked, "Takuya…what did you do this time?"

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**Post-ramblings:**

Hi there! WAIT! Don't say it. I already know. You're thinking that this chapter was incredibly short and I don't blame you for thinking so, but I wanted it to end on an intriguing and a slightly comedic tone. Rest assured, fans of Takumi will get what they want within the next few chapters. This will be my first upload after having lurked this site for four years, so I've been taking notes and trying to avoid any uploading hiccups due to my lack of experience. =)**  
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	2. The Meeting of Awkwardness

To anyone who's confused over italics/bolding in this fic, italics are used to represent thoughts while bolding is simply used for highlighting any important details, lines, or headers.

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_**Invisible Things, Visible Things**_

_**Chapter 2: The Meeting of Awkwardness**_

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**_Muffled grunts and curses could be faintly heard under Takuya's breath. He had his arms crossed and was slightly irritated from having been dragged by the back of his shirt by Kouji. As the bandana-wearing teen turned a corner, he spotted a small café and decided that that would be the best place to hold a much-needed conversation with his hot-headed friend.

He withdrew his free hand from his pocket and opened the door, taking Takuya inside. Seeing an empty table in the corner, he turned to the first chair and forced Takuya to sit on it. When the boy finally complied, Kouji went and sat himself on the opposite side.

"So, tell me. What were you thinking when you shouted out loud in the middle of a park full of couples?"

The boy across from him rubbed the back of his head nervously and gave a crooked smile to appease Kouji's emotionless face. And after retracting his hand, he spoke. "Nothing."

"Nothing, really? But thanks to you, the mood got ruined, and I had to give up on my date."

"Wait, when did you get another girlfriend?" Takuya shot up and leaned across the table, getting in Kouji's face.

"Get your face away from me." The raven-haired boy used one hand and planted it in Takuya's face.

"Sorry, bad habit," Takuya grinned and returned to sitting normally.

"Anyways…did something happen again?"

Kouji averted his gaze from Takuya's while he asked him. It's not that he wasn't interested in his best friend's antics; Takuya's troubles were usually the center of attention for being so ridiculously stupid.

"Kouji."

"Hmm, yeah?" He finally shifted his attention back in Takuya's direction and was caught off-guard.

"I'm about to tell you something you might not believe, and I'm serious."

"The last time you were serious in Chemistry, you ended up arranging our matches in the shape of a campfire and almost burned up an entire box."

"Wait, wait! I'm actually serious this time." Takuya's eyes were the same as before, unfaltering.

Kouji nodded slightly to let know he could continue.

"I…" He paused.

"Yes, go on."

"…met a ghost."

Silence ensued. Crickets chirped in an invisible space telepathically created between the two in their heads. A sniff was made and their waiter had delivered their drinks in the middle of it.

"Oooh! My frappe!" Takuya had broken the silence with his short attention span. Slurping was about the only audible noise coming from the two at that point, until Kouji decided to speak up once again.

"A ghost?" He seemed unfazed. He grabbed his drink and adjusted the straw with one hand while holding the cup in the other.

"Yup. I'm telling you, it's true. I met her when I was walking around randomly in the hallway-"

"WAIT!"

Kouji stopped sipping from his drink, and his right hand had been formed into a stop sign.

"Is there something wrong, Kouji?"

"Yes, there is. The ghost is a she?"

"Haha, yeah. I was surprised by that, too." Takuya laughed and arched his head back a little bit before continuing on.

"Right, I was wandering the hallways of one of the older school buildings, you know? The one way back, where you can see the lake in the mountains from the window?"

"What were you doing there in the first place?"

"I was looking for my guitar pick. I always end up losing the damn thing somewhere in the music room. When I was about to pick it up from the ground, a cute girl was sitting on the grand piano and looking at me."

"Hmmm," was all Kouji managed to get out while he was still drinking.

"But is it normal for ghosts to be able to hold stuff? I mean, shouldn't they phase through everything they touch?"

"You mean you never bothered to check whether she was a ghost or not before telling me this story?"

"Ah, well…I thought…but..," Takuya sighed. He shook his head slowly.

Kouji didn't look back at him, and was texting his date instead. But after the message had been sent with the sound of a familiar 'BING', he slid his phone back into his pocket and looked up at Takuya again.

"My date and I are meeting elsewhere at a later time, but since I don't want to go home, why don't you go and show me this, 'ghost'?"

Takuya's head lifted from his small depression and looked at his friend with bright eyes.

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The two slowly made their way through the corridor of classrooms. Takuya led the way with a smile on his face and Kouji followed behind while scanning the walls.

"Well, here we are!" Takuya opened the door and peeked inside.

Kouji shoved him aside and stepped into the room, glancing at the piano.

"Takuya, I don't see anyone…"

"Huh? That's weird. I could have sworn I saw her right h-"

Kouji glanced back at Takuya and saw something…or someone..popping their head out of the…wall?

"…_what..? _Takuya…"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Is that the ghost you were talking about?"

"Huh?"

Takuya turned around…and met with another face close to his.

"WOAH THERE."

He stumbled back and landed on his bottom.

The ghost floated into the room and looked at the two boys. And while she was staring at them, the two boys stared back at her.

The ghost was exactly what they had…not expected. Aside from the floating and incredibly slight transparency, she could have passed as one of the girls attending their school. She was wearing a lavender halter-top, a white miniskirt, and a pair of white sandals.

Kouji was literally staring at her, not with his usual emotionless, "_I don't care,_" face but quite literally checking her out.

"_Damn, c'mon Kouji. Get a hold of yourself here! This is a ghost, right? I mean, I just saw her pass through that wall over there. No way she's still alive. Wait, are ghosts even supposed to be this sexy-looking?"_

Takuya wasn't any better. He was staring at her face…and his gaze kept shifting downwards…more and more. His eyes went from looking at her beautiful face, eyes, and blonde hair to her chest, fine hips, and slender legs. And for the duration of his staring, he was shamelessly drooling.

The ghost was already disturbed by Takuya and was about to say something to break their stares until her admirer's black-haired companion decided to do it instead.

"Takuya…"

Takuya took notice of both Kouji and his drool, and sucked his drool back into his mouth while wiping the rest with his arm.

"Yes, Kouji?"

It was hard for Kouji to say it because he wasn't one to admit things about women. He'd always had girls naturally flocking to him.

"I…I give her a ten out of ten…"

And then both of the boys went back to ogling her, and in Takuya's case, drooling as well.

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**Post-ramblings:** Phew! Another chapter done. I didn't want to leave it hanging on the short and disappointing first chapter, so I at least wanted to upload this one to give any potential readers more of a taste of what's to come. I'm pretty nervous about publishing my writings online because, as a writer, you don't quite know if you'll get praise, bashing, or both. But for my first reviewer, **blackandblood**, I thank you for that motivation. It helps even more when you're a veteran writer in the community. =)


	3. It's Like Meeting the Same, New Person!

_**Invisible Things, Visible Things**_

_**Chapter 3: It's Like Meeting the Same, New Person!  
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**_"…"

Izumi fidgeted in her spot. The boy from before and his friend were staring at her.

"_Really. All I did was say hello to him. He's starting to drool again, too."_

To break the boys out of their trance, and stop the brown-haired boy from having his drool leak onto the floor, she decided to float a bit closer. Izumi curled her hand into a fist and tried to spook the boy by pretending to throw a punch, knowing it'd just pass through him.

Unfortunately, her plan failed.

"_Ow…"_

Takuya wasn't spooked. He was suffering instead. He had a fist implanted right in his face. The ghost pulled back her hand and began panicking while waving her arms.

"Wait, I'm sorry! I didn't think that I'd actually hit you. It was just supposed to phase through your face…"

Kouji looked on at the two and sighed. He'd been wondering since he saw the ghost.

"_Takuya blabbed something about the ghost back when he was at the park…what was it? _Takuya, I never asked, but what exactly were you screaming about back there?"

The brown-haired boy backed up to get away from Izumi first and rubbed his nose while he began to explain.

"Ah, yeah. The first time I met her…I mean…I didn't think she was real…so I kind of instinctively…"

The ghost interrupted him.

"…touched my butt."

Takuya's face began turning a slight red from the embarrassment. He knew Kouji was going to make fun of him. And that he was. His black-haired friend was laughing, clutching his stomach with one hand while pointing at Takuya with the other.

"Takuya…out of all the stupid…shit you've done…"

Kouji began wheezing halfway through talking. He'd laughed too hard and was even wiping away the tears at the end of his eyes.

"stupid…shit..you've…done…"

He finally managed to catch his breath after repeating himself needlessly several times.

"Takuya…out of all the stupid shit you've done over the years…THIS…was the best one. I don't think even the time you mistook the men's locker room for the senior ladies' changing-"

"DON'T SAY IT. I'M NOT LISTENING." He cupped his ears using his hands.

Bandana boy chuckled and pulled out a nearby chair to sit.

"So, here we have a ghost who can touch humans, and a human who can touch ghosts."

He clapped slowly at the notion.

The ghost, having just been drifting there for a while decided to speak out her thoughts.

"But…this guy was the only one who I can touch. Like, see, I'll test it on you."

Izumi threw back her arm and curled her hand into a fist again, throwing it forward into Kouji's chest. It passed right through.

"See? The kid wearing the goggles over here is the only one that I can touch..or be touched by."

Kouji smirked.

"Takuya, why don't you go ahead and chat with her for a while. It's time for my date already. Later."

He gave Takuya a thumbs-up as he closed the door behind him.

"_Dammit, Kouji. You know I'm not good with girls…I'm already frozen on the spot…"_

He stood there, still with a tint of red on his face. The girl noticed and giggled to herself before breaking the silence.

"So…your name's Takuya, right?"

"…yeah…"

"Why are you so quiet? It's making me feel…awkward."

"I've never been good at talking with girls…"

Takuya rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"No wonder you groped my ass the first time you saw me"

He raised his hands up in defence and apologized, "Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking back there!"

"It's okay. I was getting a little bored from staring at the instruments anyways."

"Uhh…wait. I never asked your name before."

"Izumi. Izumi Orimoto. At least, that's my given name. I was called Zoe when I lived in Italy."

"You lived in Italy before? Hmm..I was wondering why you had blonde hair."

"Oh this?" She caressed her golden locks and brushed them behind her shoulder.

"I kept it blonde even after coming back to Japan. I couldn't really give it up, so it stuck with me when I died."

"Yeah…" Takuya kept staring at her face and added, "I think it suits you though, it kind of adds this strange alluring charm…"

Izumi blushed and shifted back a little, surprised, but then she quickly reverted to her norm and smiled.

"I thought you said you were bad at dealing with girls?" She giggled.

"Ah? Did I say something good?"

Izumi nodded her head. _"Doesn't seem like he realizes it himself, though."_

The two stared at the ground in front of them for a while, and once again, silence filled the room.

"So…what were you doing in the music room before?"

"Huh? Oh, I was looking for my guitar pick…but I think I ran off before picking it up." Takuya patted his pockets while using his eyes to scan the floor and room again.

"Ah, this?" Izumi floated to a corner of the room and pulled a pick out of a nearby box. "I found it after you left. I thought you might have come back looking for it since you were just about to pick it up. Still I was surprised. I gave you a hello and you just kind of came over and touched my ass."

"Sorry. It's just that I hadn't seen a girl that cute before." He went over and received the pick from her.

Izumi blushed, again. Although this time, it lasted a second longer.

"There you go again. Are you really sure you're bad at talking with girls? You seem fine when you talk with me."

"Really?" Takuya shot her a confused look. "Huh. Normally, when I'm around other girls, I tense up and start stuttering a little. I feel somehow calm when I talk with you, though."

"And that goes double for me." Izumi floated a bit closer to where Takuya was standing. "I think you're an interesting person. Want to be friends?" She put her face close to his.

Takuya jumped back, his face red and heart beating. _"Damn, that almost got me. _You must have been lonely all this time, haven't you?"

Izumi nodded solemnly and held her hands behind her back. "I've been wandering the halls of this school for such a long time now."

"Why hasn't anyone else noticed you, though?" Takuya got strangely interested. He wasn't one to pay attention to rumors at school, but if someone had seen her before, a rumor about a ghost sighting would have spread pretty quickly nonetheless.

"I…can make myself invisible and visible at will." Izumi paused. "A normal ghost should also be able to hold things, right?"

Takuya nodded. "Well, if you couldn't, I guess it's just that way. There are stories where objects would float from being held by a ghost, though.

"Right." Izumi started smiling at Takuya, and her emotion wasn't unnoticed. Takuya was just about to ask, but was quickly interrupted.

"I can also do one more thing. It's a little special… Have you ever seen a ghost materialize?"

"Materialize? What?"

"Here, I'll show you." Izumi breathed in and out and began to concentrate. A veil of light began to cover her entire figure, and slowly, her transparent skin was no longer see-through.

She landed with a thud on the ground.

"Ow…"

Takuya stared in awe. He'd been dazzled by her beauty when he first saw her as a ghost, but now that she was no longer transparent, he stood there awe-struck.

On the other side, Izumi was in a slight daze. She just solidified from a ghost to flesh and instantly felt the effects of gravity slam her against the floor.

"Oh, right!" Takuya went over and offered her a hand. Izumi took his hand and he gently helped her up onto her feet.

When Izumi had fully stood up, both of them were still holding hands. Takuya had been staring at her, and Izumi was adjusting to her new body. When Izumi finally regained full consciousness, the first thing she took notice of…was her hand. More specifically, the hand that had been holding onto Takuya's for a while now. She instantly felt her body heat up in small increments, but before it could start showing on her face, she quickly retracted her hand.

"Umm...how do I look?" She was a bit embarrassed to ask. Not only had it been a long time since she'd materialized, it was the first time she'd shown this to a living human. A boy, at that.

"…"

"Huh? I couldn't hear you." Izumi could have sworn she heard something under Takuya's breath.

"…cute…" He instantly looked away right after.

All Izumi could do was giggle. Despite him calling her cute, she found that the boy's act of shyness in front of her…was instead much, much cuter than anything she'd ever seen.

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**Post-ramblings:** And, another chapter is done. Writing this probably took around an hour total, maybe less...which would explain the incredibly short lengths so far, but they always seem so long when they span pages and pages in Word. Anyways, I'll just say this now: the real start of the story begins next chapter...and so do the hours of typing and brainstorming I'm going to be doing. But, this story has been a long time since I've enjoyed writing anything creative, so it's all good. :D


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